The Hammerhead was launched on 14 April 1967 at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry-Dock Company, and was commissioned
on 28 June 1968.
After 27 years of dedicated service, USS Hammerhead SSN663 was decommissioned, and struck from the Navy list on the 5th of
April 1995.

Although she is gone, the memories will never be forgotten.

The Submariner

Only a submariner realizes to
what great extent an entire ship depends on him as an individual. To a landman this is not understandable, and sometimes it
is even difficult for us to comprehend, but it is so!

A submarine at sea is a different world in herself, and in consideration
of the protracted and distant operations of submarines, the Navy must place responsibility and trust in the hands of those
who take such trips to sea.

In each submarine there are men who, in the hour of emergency or peril at sea, can turn
to each other. The men are ultimately responsible to themselves and each other for all aspects of operation of their submarine.
They are the crew. They are the ship.

This is perhaps the most difficult and demanding assignment in the Navy. There
is not an instant during his tour as a submariner that he can escape the grasp of responsibility. His privileges in view of
his obligations are almost ludicrously small, nevertheless, it is the spur which has given the Navy its greatest mariners
- the men of the Submarine Service.

It is a duty which most richly deserves the proud and time-honored title of....
Submariner.

Reprinted from the Submarine Squadron Four Decommissioning booklet.

This site is maintained by Willie "Dock" Dunagan RMCS(SS)USN Ret. Member of Precommissioning crew. I Served as Leading
Radioman, Chief of the Boat, Communications Officer, and Public Affairs Officer during my 7 years onboard.
(Feb 67 to Feb 74).